TL; DR (tap to expand)
- WhatsApp is developing a new option that lets users send text messages that can only be opened once.
- The messages will disappear immediately after being read, with restrictions on forwarding, copying, screenshots, and screen recordings.
- The feature could work in both individual and group chats, although it isn’t expected to come to Channels.
WhatsApp appears to be working on another privacy feature for its users, and this time it focuses entirely on text messages. The app already supports view-once photos, videos, and voice notes. Now, it looks like users may soon be able to send text messages that vanish after a single read.
How It Could Work
Based on information from WABetaInfo, after typing a message, the user will see an option to send the message as “view once,” an alternative sending method before the message is delivered.
Once the recipient opens the message and reads it, it disappears from the chat and can’t be accessed again.
This works differently from disappearing messages. Those remain visible until a timer expires, whether that’s after 24 hours, seven days, or longer. In this case, the message stays intact until it’s opened. The moment it’s viewed, it’s gone.
Privacy Restrictions
Recipients reportedly won’t be able to forward these messages to other chats or copy the contents elsewhere within the app. Screenshots and screen recordings could also be blocked, similar to the protections already used for view-once media.
Of course, these safeguards can’t prevent someone from using another phone or camera to capture what’s on the screen, but they do add an extra layer of privacy inside the app itself.
Where It Could Be Useful
The feature could come in handy for information that doesn’t need to remain in a conversation permanently. That could include one-time passwords, Wi-Fi credentials, temporary addresses, payment details, access codes, or quick instructions that only need to be seen once.
The feature is expected to work in both personal conversations and group chats. Channels, however, don’t appear to be part of the rollout.
WhatsApp has steadily expanded its privacy controls over the past few years through features such as disappearing messages, Chat Lock, and view-once media. Adding the same concept to text messages would give users another way to decide how long their conversations stick around.
WhatsApp hasn’t announced when the feature will roll out publicly, but development appears to be underway for Android, with iPhone versions expected to follow as well.
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